By Chris Kavan - 04/26/15 at 11:24 PM CT
With little in the way of competition, Furious 7 once again took the top spot at the box office. It will have to enjoy this last victory - as it continues to reap huge rewards on the international stage as well (even as The Avengers: Age of Ultron hit select market ahead of its U.S. debut). It caps a fine run for the film - and there was little surprise that a new Furious 8 film was announced shortly after this stunning results. If April was big, May is shaping up to be even bigger - with The Avengers dropping first, but also a new Mad Max, Pitch Perfect sequel and disaster porn entry San Andreas looking to make their own waves.
1) FURIOUS 7
Furious 7 become the first film since The Hunger Games back in 2012 to take the box office crown for four straight weekends. With another $18.26 million added, Furious 7 now stands at $320.5 million and is still on pace to cross the $350 million mark, depending on just how much The Avengers eats into its audience. It only dipped 37% this time around. The film become just the third film ever to top $1 billion on the international market (joining Titanic and Avatar) - and China is the most lucrative market. Furious 7 topped Transformers: Age of Extinction with $323 million to become the biggest film in that market - and could reach $400 million before it ends its run. The $1.32 billion total moved it up to fifth place all time - and it should pass Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 before the end of next week to claim the fourth-place spot. It should come as little shock that a Furious 8 was announced, though the big question remains how the next films will deal with the death of Paul Walker and we'l see if that affects the bottom line.
2)
PAUL BLART: MALL COP 2
Holding on to its second place spot was Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. The Kevin James comedy had a surprisingly strong hold for film that garnered little support from critics and a lukewarm response from audiences. It dipped just under 35% (the original Paul Blart dropped 32% in its second weekend) and took in $15.5 million for a new total of $44 million. Expect this to cross $50 million soon and it could ultimately top out at around the $75 million mark. Sure, it won't ever reach the heights of the original film, but considering its modest $30 million budget, this film can still be considered a winner.
3)
THE AGE OF ADELINE
The only new film to crack the top 10 this week was The Age of Adeline. The Blake Lively-led romance film took in $13.37 million. While that was far from the total The Other Woman took in on the same weekend last year ($24.76 million) it was right in line (and, in fact, better) with the Nicholas Sparks adapted The Longest Ride ($13 million) and The Best of Me ($10 million). The film drew an overwhelmingly female audience (75%) and was older (58% over 25) and they awarded it a fine "A-" Cinemascore. Should it manage a decent hold, it should top out around the $30 million mark.
4)
HOME
Retaining its fourth-place spot, the animated Home crossed the $150 million mark by taking in $8.3 million and winding up at $153.8 million. That is an excellent result for Dreamworks Animation - as it has now topped both Megamind ($148.4 million) and Puss in Boots ($149.2 million). It dropped a light 22% and continues to be the main draw for families (and that is likely going to be the case for awhile). Even though it will continue to drop, it still has a good chance of nearly the $175 million mark.
5)
UNFRIENDED
As is the case with so many horror films, Unfriended turned out to be incredibly front-loaded. The film dropped nearly 61% in its second weekend, taking in $6.2 million and raising its total to $25.1 million. It isn't likely to have much more left in the tank; expect Unfriended to top out at under $35 million by the end of its run.
Outside the top five: Ex Machina expanded to over 1200 theaters, and the well-received sci-fi film jumped from 15th to 6th place (a 581.3% increase) with $5.44 million. That expansion is in line with the dramatic Woman in Gold ($5.48 million) and well above the wide expansion for horror film It Follows ($3.8 million). In fact, it is the best result yet for distributor A24 - topping the wide release opening for Spring Breakers ($4.89 million). It has already hit $6.9 million - it should also be able to top the total for Spring Breakers ($14.1 million) to become A24's highest grossing film as well.
The week's other wide release opening, Little Boy, didn't find much praise. It opened outside the top 10 with just $2.8 million (13th place). It just goes to show that just because you add a faith angel to a film doesn't guarantee a faithful audience - and the overly saccharine nature probably didn't help much.
Next week all eyes are going to be on The Avengers: Age of Ultron - really, as no other films dares open against the super hero Juggernaut. Much like Furious 7, the only question is how big the film is going to open and whether more records are going to be shattered.
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